How to Practise Drawing Effectively

If you want to get better at something you need to practise regularly.

Of course you do. No-one would argue with that. But regular practice alone isn’t enough. There are good and bad ways to practise.

My own experience of teaching myself to draw over the last few years has taught me this: Practise ineffectively, and you’ll be putting in huge amounts of effort for very little reward. Practise effectively, and you can progress much faster than you would have thought possible with much less effort.

That’s partly why I’m so dubious of this “10,000 hours” idea that’s been doing the rounds for a while now. It says nothing about what form your 10,000 hours of practice should take.

I’ve come to the conclusion that effective practice is specific, focused and deliberate. Ineffective practice is unfocused and meandering. It has no particular goal and because of that it achieves no particular goal. Complex pursuits like drawing and painting demand the synthesis of many different skills. Unfocused practice deals with them all at once, resulting in little noticeable improvement in any of them in a short time frame. Worse, it can be de-motivating in the long run and stop you practising entirely.

Searching for an Effective way to Practise Composition

Recently I’ve decided that I desperately need to improve my skills at composition. I’ve written a couple of posts inquiring into what makes a good composition and how composition might be learned. Having decided that my goal is to achieve a better sense of design, by which I mean an intuitive feel for proportion and spacing, I’ve put in place a practice schedule that is designed to stretch the specific skills I need for that in a focused and deliberate way.

This post is about the kind of practice I’ve started doing in order to improve my pictorial composition.

What is Effective Practice?

I’ve known for a while that my composition was weak, but until very recently I haven’t really known what to do about it. What I’ve been missing is a way in, a road map to follow if you like. I think that this is the most difficult aspect of teaching yourself: firstly knowing where to start and then where to head towards from there. Not having this road map generally leads to aimless wandering, de-motivation and demoralisation in my experience.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. If you want to get better at something, I think the key steps are:

Identify the core skills that you need to practice

Decide on a way to practise those skills in isolation from everything else – focus on each skill separately, one at a time

Make an appointment with yourself and allocate some time for regular practice

It’s that simple. Say you wanted to be able to draw more accurately, then the skill you’d need to practise would be your ability to accurately judge shapes in three dimensions and translate them into two dimensions on the picture plane. With building that skill as your goal, you could think up some exercises around it and get down to some regular, focused practice.

If you just draw a lot, over time your drawing will naturally become more accurate. But if you take that skill on its own and practise it regularly, deliberately and with focus, your drawings will become more accurate a lot faster. The greater skill you now have with that particular aspect of drawing and painting will then naturally become a part of everything you do.

Notice I haven’t included anything about setting goals in my three steps, like “I will do so many drawings per week” or “I will practice for this amount of time every day”. The reason for that is that I’ve tried setting goals like that and found that it doesn’t work so well for me. Why? Well, here’s an example:

Why Just Setting Goals Isn’t Enough

Some time ago I set myself the goal of drawing something – anything – every day. On the face of it that might seem like a good idea.Regular practice is the key to getting better, right? Well, yes it is. But it’s not the whole story. Based on my list above, I only had the third part in place, making an appointment with myself.

I hadn’t identified a particular skill I wanted to practise.

I hadn’t decided on an effective way to practise that skill.

Whilst deciding to draw every day is certainly a laudable aim, what happened in practice is that because I had no focus, no road map to follow, the energy I put into the practice quickly dissipated. A few things happened:

I started missing days

I became demoralised

I stopped practising, and I felt bad about it

I blamed myself. My whole approach to practice became a battle, shot through with negative feelings about my own levels of commitment.Once the cascade of negative self esteem kicks in, it’s really easy to find yourself accepting all sorts of negative emotions about yourself.You’re just not as talented as so-and-so. You just don’t have enough commitment. You’re just not interested enough. You’re lazy.

That’s just not healthy. But here’s the good news: You’re not lazy, you just haven’t been practising effectively and you’ve made life hard for yourself because of that.

So I’ve been taking a very different approach to practising composition. It goes something like this:

I’ve identified the core skill I want to practise: a sense of proportion and spacing

I’ve chosen a way to practise it (more on this in a moment)

I’ve made a daily appointment with myself for practice

Practice doesn’t have to be a battle. Just decide on the skill, decide on the form of practice, make a regular appointment with yourself and keep it. Don’t sweat about how long you spend doing it. Don’t do it for a fixed amount of time. It’s the repetition that matters, getting into a habit with it. Once you have that in place, everything else will flow naturally.

By way of example, I do my composition practice every morning before I go to work. Depending on what time I get up, sometimes I start at 6 AM,sometimes 6:30. I might practise for 10 minutes, or an hour. Generally I find the time goes very quickly and the average is probably 30 to 60minutes at the moment.

By not having a set amount of time I have to practise for, a successful practice session is simply showing up and starting. If I’m tired,I do less. If I’m feeling energised, I do more. I do miss the odd day, but because it’s not a big heavy thing like having to do a set amount of time, it doesn’t become a chore and I can just start up again the next day. I don’t sweat it too much if I miss a day.

What I’m trying to do is to get into a regular habit of practice, because I think this is much more important than setting goals. I’ve been doing this for two weeks now and the habit is set. I find myself sitting down and starting now without thinking about it. I don’t have to make myself do it, it’s become a natural part of my routine. It’s become effortless.

Crucially I think, if you practise like this you’ll also feel energised and positive about the improvements you see, rather than de-motivated and demoralised when you set time targets you miss. You’ll feel more motivated to keep going. Practice will become enjoyable and a source of relaxation and joy instead of pain and frustration. That’s certainly been my experience.

This really isn’t just airy fairy nonsense or pie in the sky. This is something you can try and apply yourself, without a huge investment in time,and see the results for yourself too, quite quickly. I believe this because I’ve seen it happen in my own practice. When I’ve really focused on a particular skill, I’ve improved. I’ve felt more positive, and I’ve progressed. The most obvious example I have of this was when I decided to put my colours away and concentrate purely on value for a while. With some fairly focused practice over a fairly significant period of time, I went from this:

Early value study, charcoal on paper. July 2006

To this:

Old Iron: drawing in black and white chalk on paper. July 2008

Two years separate those drawings. My accuracy and various other skills had also improved in the meantime, and I spent much longer on the second one of course. Although I practised value a lot in the period between the two drawings, I didn’t practise it as specifically and deliberately asI’m practising composition now. I could have improved faster if I had, I’m sure.

Experiences like this have convinced me that the best way to improve a specific aspect of your drawing and painting is to take it out in isolation and practise it in a focused way. If it worked for value, why shouldn’t it work for composition?

A Concrete Example

Okay, so I want to get better at composition now. How am I going to do it?

I’ve decided on my core skill, I’ve made an appointment with myself, I now need a method. I need a road map, so that when I keep my appointment with myself every day, I don’t sit down and wonder what I’m going to do. I don’t wander aimlessly. If my energy is focused, it won’t dissipate.

Well Firstly, I have a roadmap ready supplied which I’m following in the form of a book called Composition by Arthur Wesley Dow. This book isn’t a high level theory book, showing overlays of geometrical designs from the Renaissance and delving into the mathematics of the GoldenSection. It’s a very practical series of exercises to follow, a workbook. Just the kind of practical book I like.

Perhaps more importantly, it’s obviously based around the principles I’ve described above. The meat of the book is a series of exercises,in line, value and colour, growing gradually in complexity and all based around developing a sense of proportion and spacing. Not a mathematical approach, this book is about practising repeatedly until this sense of design becomes internalised, intuitive.

I’m still working on the line section of the book, so I’m still in the beginning stages. Here’s a few examples of the kind of thing I’m doing right now:

These two drawings are examples of drawing something from real life, then tracing over the original multiple times, changing and refining the design.

Both of these drawings are of Freesias, my Mum’s favourite flower. If I get a good final piece out of all these I’ll give it to her for her birthday. So far I like the one on the left more 🙂

These are part of a series of Chinese brush drawings of clementines, sometimes with little flowers added. I’ve lost count of the amount of these I’ve done now, even with such a simple subject the possibilities seem endless. None of them are really seen as finished drawings, and I’m not working towards a ‘final design’. I’m just playing around with shapes and spacing, the practice is an end in itself for these pieces. Each one adds a little incrementally to my feel for spacing and proportion.

Inevitably some grab me more than others though, and eventually I intend to pick one to reproduce in full colour in oils.

The one on the left here is an example of a repeat pattern design, done as part of the practice of the compositional element of- you guessed it – repetition. Whilst this may not be obvious as a way to practice composition, I do believe it’s helping to develop my sense of design, proportion and spacing in a very specific and focused way.

I should hopefully be internalising the lessons naturally from this practice and find them coming out later on without having to think about them. They should, with enough practice, become intuitive. And designing patterns is a lot of fun!

The drawing on the right is an example of basing an imagined landscape on an abstract linear design. The sun/moon just happened, I wasn’t expecting it. That’s part of the fun too, I’m finding: The freedom to create instinctively without being tied to a visual impression. It allows a lot more freedom with the design.

All these practice pieces are done with a traditional Chinese brush and ink on newsprint, tracing paper or computer printing paper.I’ll go into the method more in subsequent posts.

Specific, Focused, Deliberate

My practice and the improvements I’ve seen so far have convinced me that composition, in terms of a sense of design, can be learned and improved.There’s no need to learn and try to remember multiple ‘rules’ of composition, or complex mathematical formulas. It’s a skill like any other, and can be developed and strengthened with focused, deliberate and regular practice.

Perhaps more importantly, three things have happened to my practice:

It’s become a habit. I don’t think about it now. I get up, make coffee, start mixing ink.

I feel positive. I feel good about myself and the work I’m doing. The negative emotions tied up with the feeling of failing to keep to a draconian practice schedule have been replaced by a feeling of – I know this might sound trite but it’s true – joy. Everyone should have a bit of joy in every day. It does wonders for your outlook on life. I’m getting mine when I practise composition first thing in the morning. It’s a wonderfully positive start to the day.

I think I’m also getting better at designing pictures, bit by bit. Here’s a simple example:

The version on the left was the first of many. The original was done on the spot in my local woodland park where I ride my bike, and this version traced from it.

Once I had the elements of the picture, I rearranged them multiple times, tracing and retracing the original. Then I drew a basic armature of lines,the second picture, related to the elements of the composition but concentrating only on spacing and the subdivision of the space within the frame.

The last one is based on the first drawing, but arranged around the subdivision of space in the second. What do you think? Is it a more balanced arrangement? A better composition?

What’s Coming Next

The plan is for this practice to build into a regularly updated series of posts on the practice, my progress, and what I feel I’m learning. This will be a really good test I think of whether my ideas about practice methods and the early positive results I’m seeing are valid. And you’ll be able to see yourself what’s happening over time because I’m going to post it all here. Wish me luck!

The worst that can happen is that this practice method doesn’t work as well as I hope and I’ll have to reassess and try something else, or perhaps tweak it a little to make it work better. And isn’t that just what life’s all about?

The best that can happen is that I get better at designing compositions much quicker than I would if I just allowed that skill to develop as part of more general, unfocused practice. If that happens, you’ll see it too, there’ll be no hiding it.

In the next post I’ll go into more detail about the structure of the Dow book and how I’m following the exercises. Until next time…

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About Paul

I'm a (mostly) self-taught artist. I paint realism in oils, mostly still life. I share my work, my evolving process and what knowledge I've gained on my own learning journey here, in the hope that it might help you along on
yours.

I’m really glad you found it useful. The trick is to keep it very specific and to keep it simple. When I started this, I decided that as long as did 10 minutes practice at my daily appointment with myself, that would be enough. The idea was to get the habit in place first, and to do that it needs to be as easy as possible.

This came at just the right time for me and has inspired me to get into this habit, and deliver myself a little joy each day. I am self-taught and am most comfortable with values. What has and continues to elude me is ‘color.’ It does not come naturally to me as it does to some others and I find it difficult to choose a method to follow, or a palette to set out (although I am more comfortable with the limited palette).

How exciting, the woodland park redesign is very interesting. Thanks for showing the before and after with the intermediate step of how you got from one to the other. I can’t wait to see what you will do with the notan portion of the book!

Paul, you will be happy to know that our work together on the Munsell cubes inspired me to continue venturing from the cube exercises into color. I am applying a similar approach of setting a goal first, designing a strategy I think will work, then trying out the strategy. I learned this from you and am very grateful.

I started with a single color sring exercise (good color mixing practice), then used it to paint a sphere, then used the strategy to paint a sphere in a different color, then to paint a pear.

I agree working this way is a confidence builder that keeps you excited for the next day’s possibilities. Someday I will send you a pic of my new and improved peaches that I am still striving towards. 😉 Very enjoyable post, you are an inspiration!

This makes complete sense to me-in my former life I worked in a very successful program for children having trouble learning to read, Reading Recovery, and similar principles were the basis for our teaching. Thanks for working this out in a new context.

Hey Paul! Great to see you back. I just finished chemo and have what is called chemo brain. I have trouble concentrating, now, so I would love to see your ideas on how to focus enough to get back into painting. It’s almost like starting from scratch and I very much want to get back to painting. I don’t have daily access to a computer,right now, but I a;ways check your site for new updates. Thank you for the insights to what we all go through in our efforts to paint. I’m really glad to see you are still so involved in painting.

Colleen! Absolutely brilliant to hear from you, it’s been a while and that’s entirely my fault, I know.

Thank-you for those very kind words. I really enjoyed working on some of the value stuff I’ve learned with you and would like to continue. I just got stuck with a good way to practice that ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom up’ approach to the three cubes exercise. At, least, I got stuck with a good way to describe it. If we were sitting in the same room at the same easel, it would be easy. It’s just that ocean between us that’s getting in the way!

I’ll drop you a line and lets see if we can get over that hump together. My only real difficulty, apart from the time factor, is that now my studio has been sacrificed to become the bedroom for our forthcoming (hopefully) adopted little one. It’s a sacrifice I’m more than happy to make but it does make the kind of work we were doing together more difficult. But I’m sure there’s a way round it.

Please, please please send me what you’ve been working on and bring me up to date. That ‘perfect peach’ is still on my to-do list!

Judy, that’s fascinating about the reading program – but tantalising! I’m itching to know more. Please share it here if you can, I think it would be really useful to other readers to hear more about it.

But if you’re not comfortable with that for any reason, please email me and let me know a little more about it, if you can.

I really don’t have the background to advise you on your particular situation I don’t think. But as a general idea, perhaps it would help you to start small, really small, like 5-10 minutes a day, and build it up slowly. Take something really simple perhaps and just do an outline sketch.

I think that Michael Nobbs will be able to give you much better advice than me here. He suffers from low energy but manages to keep himself going admirably. His blog is here:Sustainably Creative

Really helpful and interesting post Paul. I have been following your blog for a while; but, as fascinating as it has been to me, I am somewhat of a lurker in general. Nevetheless, I thought I’d come out of lurkdom to make my first (I think) comment here and to tell you thanks for yet another inspirational post.

I, myself am interested in drawing from life with greater accuracy and more confident line. I agree a specific approach would yield more predictable results. I don’t consider myself lazy, but not being one for detailed grids and measurements, my challenge at present is to determine the best the “how” for me. In any event, once I can figure the “how” part out, I like your “no goal setting, no time pressure, more joy” attitude. 🙂 It has given me some real food for thought.

Looking forward to reading more about how your own compositional practice develops.

Lurking is fine. But I’m really glad you popped in to comment this time though. It lets me know you’re out there reading and keeps me motivated to post. Plus, it’s good to talk 🙂

Have you considered some sight size practice? It’s generally considered to be a heavy duty measuring technique but it doesn’t have to be.

When you boil it down, it’s just having your easel side by side with your subject, and comparing from a distance. With the subject and your drawing both comfortably in your field of view, and having them both the same size, comparison becomes much easier.

Hi again Paul, and thanks for your response. I was afraid you were going to suggest sight size 😉 I know it is a good practice, but I am primarily a landscape painter, so I am wondering how this would apply out in the field (when hanging strings of cotton isn’t really possible). I do have a small hand-held “frame” I use with grid lines, which helps me to locate main points and shapes. But from reading your blog, I don’t think that’s exactly the same as sight-size, in that the scale of subjedt to canvas is quite different. Certainly, though, your suggestion could be applied in the studio as practice for better drawing in general, but I am curious to know if you have a suggestion for a drawing practice as it relates to field work.

I’m excited to follow your posting on this. I have this book too and I wasn’t able to tease much out of the exercises.

I have the same problem as I do when I study notan. It all seems to come back to “make a pleasing arrangement of shapes” and I don’t have enough of an “eye” yet to tell if one arrangement is more “pleasing” than another.

> I was afraid you were going to suggest sight size 😉
Hah! You know me too well 🙂

I don’t think it would work so well outdoors, true. But yes I agree, you could do practice indoors, just on accuracy, and the same neural networks that you’ve been building up through your dedicated, focused accuracy practice would come naturally in to play outdoors too.

It’s not like you use a different part of your brain to judge shapes when you’re indoors from when you’re outdoors, if you know what I mean. Accuracy is accuracy, inside or outside.

Actually I’ve been thinking about designing a simple exercise to practice just this, accuracy, and test it out in public, here, to see if the the theory works in practice.

That’s cool you have the Dow book too! I really hope that some of the stuff I do helps you to find a way into it. It does need a bit of interpreting I think.

>I don’t have enough of an “eye” yet to tell if one arrangement is more “pleasing” than another.
Right, I hear you. If you don’t mind, can I ask how much you practised with that, how regularly and over how long a period?

I’m not trying to insinuate that you didn’t work hard enough at it, far from it. But a lot of reading on neuroscience and how habits are formed has convinced me that the repetition is really important. The more you do something, the more the neural network that your brain uses to carry out that task strengthens.

That’s why habits are so hard to break. They become wired into your brain, literally, physically wired into your brain in the form of networks of neurons.

It’s exactly like building up muscle. That’s all your brain is, a big thinking muscle. Most of thought is unconscious. A sense of design is unconscious, intuitive. You can build it with time and regular, focused practice. No-one is born with a strong sense of design, they develop it.

You can develop yours too.

I’m going to be posting on how I’m doing the practice very shortly, so you can compare how we’re doing it and see what you think. It would be great to follow up with you again after I get the next post up. Stay in touch.

I thought I had the Dow book but it turns out I didn’t. I just now ordered it. What a terrific idea. Please keep sharing your ideas on specific practice, I think that is key.

As far as developing an eye is concerned, that’s another good question. I like to look at paintings I admire and break them down into simple shapes, not looking at content or technical qualities like draftsmanship. Then I ask myself if I can adapt this design to what it is I’m trying to do… .

So much of visual art is “taste” I think. That’s such an illusive quality.

Just re-read what I wrote and I’m not sure I meant to say that draftsmanship is a “technical quality”. It sounds like I’m saying it’s a “mere” technical quality, which it isn’t, it’s a key skill, the basic skill, in learning how to see.

>I like to look at paintings I admire and break them down into simple shapes…Then I ask myself if I can adapt this design to what it is I’m trying to do

I read a really interesting thing the other day that relates to that I think. Some science bods were taking neural images of a pianist’s brain whilst the pianist in question played the piano, and recorded what they saw.

Various parts of the pianist’s brain ‘lit up,’ particularly the part of the motor cortex connected with the fingers.

You’d expect that, right?

What’s interesting is that they then asked the pianist to play though the piece in their mind, not sitting at the piano and not moving their fingers. The same areas of the motor cortex lit up, even though the fingers weren’t doing anything.

The more connections between sets of neurons fire, the stronger those connections get. When we learn something new, we create a new set of connections – actual physical connections – between neurons in our brains.

So when you’re looking at a painting and breaking it down into abstract shapes, rearranging and reapplying them in your mind, you’re probably practising composition just as effectively as you would be if you were sitting physically drawing out the compositions on paper. I’ll bet the same parts of your brain fire when you do that as when you’re working compositions out on paper.

Thinking about stuff changes the physical structure of your brain. I find that amazing, and it’s why repeat practice works.

Now and again, on the train for example, I try to visualise compositions that I’ve been drawing that morning, drawing them in my mind and moving the elements around. That’s practice too.

>So much of visual art is “taste” I think. That’s such an illusive quality.
Indeed yes. But I do believe that there’s such a thing as bad and good composition that the majority of people would agree with. What do you think? Most people have a natural sense of balance an harmony I would think.

>I’m not sure I meant to say that draftsmanship is a “technical quality”.
Hehe, yes we’re not allowed to use words like ‘just’ or ‘mere’ about the core skills any more, I’ve decided. It’s the law now.

I knew exactly what you meant in the context though. Thanks for popping and leaving your thoughts again, they’re always very interesting and get my brain turning.

I find that doing some drawing when I first wake up is good habit to get in. I work on my bargue plates every morning, sometimes for just a few minutes, other times I barely make it to work on time! It can be like being on a cliffhanger in a book, I can’t wait to get home and work on the plate again. Its relaxing, joyful and a little exciting.

>It can be like being on a cliffhanger in a book
I’ve had just that feeling myself, it’s good I think in a way because it leaves you wanting more – very motivating. It can be hard to tear yourself away sometimes, there’s been a few mornings I’ve left for work in a panic about missing the train too 🙂

I should imagine Bargue practice first thing puts you the same kind of meditative state this composition practice gets me into. I think it’s a great way to start the day.

Actually I’ve been thinking about designing a simple exercise to practice just this, accuracy, and test it out in public, here, to see if the the theory works in practice

I’d really (very much!) like to see that. After 8 months of sight size I have a number of question in my mind. But I sure, sure don’t regret it.

To come to the present post _ what it made me think is, that now, when I have an instruction book or DVD, I draw/paint along with it to try to get it beyond mere intellectual superficial style acquaintance knowledge – If you see what I mean. Jim Gurney has a tantalising recent post on composition, again, too… Cheers

I’ve found the book invaluable, really. It’s no exaggeration to say that it’s changing the way I think about how I do what I do, and for the better. I’m enjoying painting and drawing in a way that I haven’t since I was a kid.

I think that’s probably a good thing 🙂

I’ve just put up a new post that goes into a lot more detail about how I’m practising with the book and what I think I’m learning. I hope you find it useful.

Thanks very much for taking the time to post the link for Jennifer too, that’s very kind. Here it is in linked format for you Jennifer:

I got your email about your post ages ago by the way, but the post was very interesting. Kept meaning to leave a comment but forgetting.

for the benefit of other readers, John is running a very interesting blog over here:The Road to Tarascon.

Fair warning though, be prepared to practise your French…

My next post is going to be about the exercises I’m trying to develop to help out some readers who expressed an interest in trying out the approach to practice I was talking about earlier. The accuracy one will be in there.

Thanks for the tip on Jim Gurney’s post. Have you got a URL for it? I don’t see it in my reader.

Paul, to answer your question — the one thing I would like to address would be correlating the colors I choose with the feeling I want to portray. I always feel that my black and white work has more feeling than work with colors. It could be that this is just a personal thing that is what it is.

That’s interesting. I haven’t often seen people say that they’d like to use colour to express feeling more effectively.

I can’t immediately think of a way you could practise that. Perhaps I’m too used to thinking in literal, visual terms.

One idea might be to take a motif, a subject that you’re working on, and simplify it down to flat shapes, take it back to basic two dimensional design. Then produce multiple variations of it with different colour schemes – play with the design – and see if some come closer to expressing your feeling than others. Just a thought.

Although it doesn’t actually have any detail on the meat of his lecture, he’s obviously talking about composition from a point of view of story telling. Understandably enough for an illustrator who illustrates his own books.

My own interest in composition is more towards the aesthetic impact of the design. I’m sure there’s plenty of cross over between the two though.

Thanks, Paul, what you’re saying and doing – is as always enriching – and I learn from it – not dispute it. The design, is no doubt, of the utmost importance – the picture must be designed (that’s Stape Kearn’s big thing!). But I’ve been thinking, and I’m starting to have a hunch, that every picture must tell a story – to engage the viewer… …but, hey, what do I know?

You may very well be right John, I hope that didn’t come off as dismissive. I didn’t mean it to.

I was just saying that I don’t currently think about design in terms of story telling, only that. That doesn’t mean I won’t in the future of course. Being open to new ideas is a prerequisite of what we do I think, as my recent experiences with the Dow book have shown me yet again.

I can certainly see how every picture can be seen from an angle of story telling.

I just found your site and I beleive that you’re on the right track as far as focusing on one skill at a time. Just one question. Not to sound naive, but what are the core skills (other than composition)?

Hi Heatdo, thanks for commenting. That’s an interesting question and one I’ve been giving a lot of thought to.

My answer will of course relate to representational painting and drawing, since that’s what I’m interested in.

In a nutshell, I believe that the skills required for drawing and painting well can be generally broken down into three areas:

Line, value and colour.

that might seem pretty obvious and too general to be of much use. But I believe that each of these areas should be addressed from two different perspectives;

1. Rendering (i.e. being able to create a convincing representation of the visual impression)

2. Design. Picture making, if you like.

Facility with the first should give the necessary technical skill to produce sound work.

The second I see as being about expression, and is where the aspects of personal style and creativity come in.

Of course there are many other areas which may or may not be of particular interest to particular people. But I think a set of exercises designed to develop skills in each of those three areas from both of those two perspectives should be useful to the majority of people wanting to learn to draw and paint.

I hope that answers your question, at least in part. I plan to evolve specific, focused exercises, designed to build skills through repeat practice, for all those areas eventually. But it’s a pretty big job so I’m taking them one at a time 🙂

Does that make sense to you? what kind of practice are you currently doing?

hi Paul,
your blog is very interesting.
The best i’ve ever seen (it’s not a joke nor sycophancy). I’m near your point of view.

I think for the first skill, the training should start with making horizontal and vertical line.
first : make a start dot;
second : make a final dot;
and third : make a line between these two dots with arm and shoulder.
I’d started with one centimeter and now i can make a twenty centimeters line.
I’had followed your method in 3 step.
That’s great.
May be this can help others to improve ?
thanks again for your blog.

Thanks also for your kind words about the site. That means a lot to me.

I think your exercise sounds excellent. What materials are you using doing to do your practice with?

I particularly like the fact that you mention that the line should be made with the arm and shoulder. That’s really important I think, and often missed. The composition practice I’m doing at the moment is done exactly like that. The brush is rested on the paper and the lines are done in a fluid sweep using the whole arm. I’m slowly getting better at it. It’s tough at first I’ve found but just takes practice.

I also like that the line is made between two dots. I think that’s a very useful way to do it, a line has to start somewhere and it has to end somewhere. Knowing where those two points are helps with fluidity I think. there can be something quite beautiful about the experience of making a good line. Just that, nothing more.

I think you’d love the Arthur Wesley Dow Composition book, by the way, if you haven’t seen it. Drop me a line at the email address below if it’s new to you and you want to hear more about it. the link above should give you some info on it hopefully.

hi paul,
i’m using all kind of materials. But i ‘m used to make this kind of exercise with a pen (like papermate flexgrip or pilot bps-gp). I’ve tried with 2b pencil but i prefer pen.
The line should be made with the arm and the shoulder if not you make circle or at least a quarter of a circle.
I’d like to specify that the difficulty is in the accuracy between the two dots. When you start this exercise it’s very hard (above all when you reached the first 5 centimeters, and i’m not talking about the 20 cm). But that’s a really good exercise which give confidence (and it’s very important, isn’t it…)
For now, i’m following your example and i’m doing the Dow’s exercises. (only one day for now, may be tonight…).
I hope i will seen soon the second post about your practice.
Thanks again

Just wanted to let you know that I’ve added your line exercise (or my version of it at least) to my morning practice session. It’s paying dividends already. I’ve picked up some very useful things just by thinking about line alone.

For one thing, I’ve found it really helps to be able to see the starting point and the finishing point at the same time, all the time the line is being drawn. This is much easier with vertical lines, less so with horizontal. My hand gets in the way.

I’ve also decided I need a bigger drawing board!

I’ve stuck a quick video of how I’m doing this exercise at the moment on youtube:

Hi Paul,
that’s not exactly like this i make my practice. I use a ballpoint pen and not a brush. But tonight i tried it and it’s a very interesting experience. I like the sensual and calming experience of the japanese brush.
I’ve less confidence in me so i make a lot of the same line (4 or 5 times 1 cm, and after 4 or 5 times 5cm, etc…)
Moreover i’ve a more nervous line, quickly than yours (may be from my character…), i make it left to right and up to bottom.
I think it’s a good idea to know the two ways : quick and slow, and left to right and right to left (the same with up and bottom).
And i’d like to specify that when you make a line, it’s easier to use your peripheral vision. I always see my final point with my vision border. (i hope i’m clear ??), it helps me to have a good line( or not so bad line).
I hope it helps…

First off, I LOVE your site – and your art. I am so incredibly inspired each time I take a stroll around. It really does me a world of good to come visit and see how you are working, and all the different techniques you practice, and all the wonderful ideas you have (such as your composition practice with Chinese brush pen). Thank you so much for such a wonderful site.

I’m also really pleased that you have spoken in favour of hard work over talent. I can attest to that as well: while hardly as accomplished as you are, I have done some decent things, and often get the “you’re so talented” line that I appreciate but believe to be totally wrong-headed. (I remember starting out no better than anybody else.) I must admit, however, that it’s only been lately that I realized how little “talent” (if it even exists) comes into play. (I suspect “talent” is…well, instead of trying my hand at a definition, I’ll paraphrase somebody who said that talent is simply love for a thing. When you love something, you don’t mind working on it over and over until it’s good.)

Anyway, thanks for your words encouraging hard work. But I did want to mention that either Malcolm Gladwell in “Outliers”, or else Matthew Syed in “Bounce” (both of which are highly recommended if you haven’t read them) DOES say that you have to practice mindfully – not just showing up and (in our case) slopping paint around. Case in point: I know several art instructors who have been teaching for 30 years but never bothered to learn to draw, and consequently….still can’t draw. I am putting a large portion of faith in the Ten Thousand Hours rule, and just working to accumulate hours until such time as I can study painting full-time (and accrue hours more quickly).

I love working with ink and a brush! I’m glad you’ve found it interesting too. It’s taken me some time to get used to it, to be sure, but now I am I find it a very natural and expressive way to work. The nice thing about it is that every tiny movement of your hand is revealed in the line. It’s a more human line, and I think that’s what makes it more expressive.

Also, I think making the same line a few times over, as you describe, is a very good idea. The more repetition the better in fact, since repetition strengthens the synapses that form the connections between neurons that collectively make the patterns of connections that represent knowledge and skill in your brain. (phew)

How many times do you think Tiger Woods has practised his given swing? How many scales has your average professional classical violinist played? I wouldn’t worry about the confidence thing. Repeating is a good idea, I think, no matter what your level. My entire approach to my own practice is entirely based around this now. It has a firm grounding in brain science, and those brain science bods do seem to know what they’re going on about!

>I think it’s a good idea to know the two ways : quick and slow, and left to right and right to left (the same with up and bottom
I completely agree. I’m about to start practising that too in tomorrow morning’s session. Thanks for the suggestion.

I think you’re right on the peripheral vision too, that’s a good point. This morning, I was practising line by putting down my starting and ending points, and then looking ONLY at the finishing point and leaving my hand to get on with the job by itself. It was a weird feeling, but you know what? My lines were, by and large, better!

>Enjoy this exchange of point of view.
Me too, and can I just give you a really big thank you for adding your experience and thoughts here. Not only have you given me a new exercise to practise and help build my skill, you’ve added something of real value to other readers here too. Thanks very much.

It’s really wonderful to hear what you say about the site, I must say. Comments like that are what keeps me going with it.

>you have spoken in favour of hard work over talent.
Yes, true, I have.

I must be honest though, I think my position is shifting somewhat slightly. don’t panic! I’m not going to start believing in talent, if anything, the more I learn about how we learn the less I believe in it.

But I think I’ve stressed the hard-work aspect a little too strongly in the past. I used to look at practice as something I had to make myself do, even if I didn’t want to do it. an I did do that.

But lately I’ve come to think that that approach is a little self defeating, and can be de-motivating.

It’s much better to enjoy our practice because firstly, it’s much easier to get started, and getting started is the hardest part of practising.

And secondly, we actually learn more effectively when we’re enjoying it.

But with that slight clarification, yes, you’re right. I do think that talent is a lot of nonsense and is easily trumped (if it exists at all, which I doubt) by effective, regular practice.

>When you love something, you don’t mind working on it over and over until it’s good.
Very true, wise words Stuart. Our very own Mr. Harold Speed wasn’t it?

I haven’t read either Outliers or Bounce. I read Gladwell’s first book, The Tipping Point, and started the second one and was much less impressed. A lot of people have recommended Outliers to me now though so I really should take a look at it!

I’ll have a look at Bounce too, thanks for the recommendation.

I absolutely agree that it’s not enough simply to put in the hours. Of course a minimum level of regular practice is required. But what happens in those hours is much, much more important than how many of them you do I think. “Focussed, deliberate practice” is my way of putting it. that’ sounds like it’s probably the same thing as “practising mindfully”.

>And may I add that you have given me LOTS to ponder!
Great! Please feel free to ponder in public here any time you feel like it!

I’m glad you mentioned that! I’ve been “forcing” myself to practice a bit too much lately (too much forcing, I mean – not nearly enough practicing!), so now I am trying to approach it more like, “Hey, wouldn’t it be fun to….” I am going back to my brilliant “small sketch series” (…which of course is a complete rip-off of your 100 still life drawings…>ahem!

>”Hey, wouldn’t it be fun to….”
Brilliant. I think that attitude of joyful exploration is absolutely the best way to approach practice.

>…which of course is a complete rip-off of your 100 still life drawings…
Hehe. I know you’re joking, but that’s exactly what I put up all this stuff for. I want you to rip me off 🙂 I try to show the things that I think have worked best for me in the hope that it might be useful to other people too. It’s really heart-warming to hear that at least sometimes, it is.

I like the structure of your approach, and am refreshed in thinking this can be applied to other creative areas of my life where I’d like to make improvements…mainly in drawing, painting and writing; thanks

Whenever I resume my attempt to practice regularly on my way to becoming an artist I remember your site and return. Each time I seem to find something relevant. Thanks for your reference to Arthur Wesley Dow. I actually found the book available as a scanned copy online so was able to look immediately. I found it very exciting and inspiring.

I only restarted my practice habit last week and began with Loomis’ Successful Drawing book as I had wanted to understand shading and perspective better. I quickly got discouraged by the very mathematical approach and wondered if you could recommend anything more intuitive that you have found useful to work from in those areas?

Meanwhile, I shall go back and read my new acquisition on composition.

I’m sure that this approach can be applied to many other things. Much of the ideas behind it come from ‘Talent is Overrated’ by Frank Colvin. He discusses similar approaches in relation to sports and music too. Even business.

The reason I think it’s so effective is that it works in harmony with the biological basis of how we learn. I’d recommend ‘The Art of changing the Brain’ by James Zull for info on that. It’s a truly inspiring book, as much for simplicity of its approach as anything else.

I’m really heartened by your comments on the site too, thanks. It’s very good to hear that you’re finding something useful here.

I haven’t seen the “Successful Drawing” book so I’m not sure what it covers. But if by “shading” you mean values, handling of light and shadow, then perhaps “The Practice and Science of Drawing” by Harold Speed might be a help. There are exercises that you might be more inclined to call painting, since they’re done with paint, but are really value exercises since there’s no colour involved. So really it’s drawing. But it really depends what in particular you want to learn I think.

It’s hard to know what to advise without knowing a little more about where you are and where you want to go. Why don’t you drop me an email with a bit more about what you want to get better at, and maybe a couple of example drawings and I’ll see if I can help?

Your articles are so helpful! This one in particular is quite special for me, an amateur painter, who’s trying to improve her technique after years of doing it erratically and without much method or discipline. Thank you for all the great articles you have published here.

it is 2012 and finally taking time to read and thoroughly enjoy your December 2011 post/email. As I read and watched you practice I became very calm. Thank you. I look forward to your next email.
I have Wesley Dow book and will soon begin to practice with it. Thank YOU>

Thanks for sharing ur experience with us. I have less concentration. Some times I feel lazy befor drawing adn when I start drawing if the object not drawing well I started using eraser and to redraw the object in a proper manner this attitude with my drawing make me weak in drawing.Because I never draw good anything i have no tips of drawing. I jus sit down start copying a drawing from original drawing. Please help me in this

You are a great communicator! I find so much truth in what you say and the direct way you say it You are reminding me of my drawing teacher, Susy Wilson who is also British but is teaching in santa cruz ca lucky for me! Im looking forward to reading more thankyou!

Maybe I’m in the wrong place to ask this, but I have been thinking a lot about how should I practice drawing.
I’m very much a beginner artist still and I don’t really know how should I practice.
Currently I have just copied my favorite artists works and I try to draw at least 2 hours a day.
The reason why I copy other artist pictures is that I can’t stand what I draw myself, it always looks so “off” or just weird…

Copying other artists is a great way to practice john. But don’t forget to develop your own sensitivity too.

I’d recommend getting hold of a copy of “composition” by Arthur Wesley Dow, and working through some of the exercises in it. They’re all design based, but I think design is where our personalities come out the strongest. It’s also a much neglected aspect of learning drawing.

Read your post and it inspired me to practice more myself and my students. I gave them a quick lesson on ways to become better at drawing. I linked your article on my website if you don’t mind. I gave a summed up version.

Hey Paul. I am Daniel, and I am currently a student under the Drawing Field. I actually did a google search on how to draw effectively and the I saw this, and it has really been worth it reading this, My drawing issues are mainly in organizing drawings into space, shading, and effectively conveying drawing dimensions onto paper or whatever I am working on. I am also really used to drawing with the graphite pencils, but my first Art class introduced me to the charcoal, and I really loved how it conveyed reality of light in just black, white, and shades of grey. You spoke about value, and this has also been a big issues. any tips on this.

Hi Paul. This is wonderful information! I was getting into that habit of wanting to practice but not knowing how and that encouraged me to stop drawing altogether. Now, trying again, I’m so glad I stumbled upon this page. But I have a question. I’m still a little confused about what specificity we are referring to. If I just said my core skill to improve was to learn to draw the female body by reading chapters 1-3 in a book about it I just purchased, properly executing the examples, chapter 1 being step 1 and so on, and my goal being to complete in in a few weeks, is that specific enough? I’m sure what that second step is referring to. How can I make this goal specific, for example. Thanks for your help in advance!

The most useful core skill in that endeavour is drawing accuracy – and therefore the ability to judge and compare the distances between points. That’s the core skill you need to stretch if you want to improve your life drawing. I’d recommend doing some sight-size drawing practice, and striving for the best accuracy you can achieve, for a period of some months to stretch and develop that skill. Then go back to the figure and see what’s changed 🙂

This website/blog is incredible. I have barely just read this page and I feel so much better about myself. I truly thank you for opening my eyes and reminding me to loosen up a bit and not be so hard on myself. Practice makes perfection. Will continue to visit this site often!!! Thanks again 🙂

This was really helpful! I didn’t know about any those things until I read this!

I LOVE to make art and create! Unfortunately, I have not been practicing for a long time because of everything that is going on in my schedule. 🙁 I have been desperate to draw or paint recently.

My friend came over a few days ago, and we sat down and drew. She loves to draw zentangles and patterns, while I love drawing characters and anime. We drew while chatting. My friend seemed to have many creative ideas in her head even though she was telling me about her school or her friends. I seem to have a problem drawing while talking/background noise is going on and I can’t focus on my art. I recently read a post about how some people can’t draw while talking because it stimulates the left brain while the right brain is working but some don’t have a problem bec they are of both. Do you think that is true or do I just lack practice?

Hard to say on the left brain/right brain thing. More recent research has shown that the left/right view is a little over-simplified, whilst still broadly true. For most tasks, we tend to use a combination of both.

All I can tell you for sure is that I personally find it almost impossible to draw and talk at the same time. It’s certainly not anything you should worry about. Focus and concentration are positive things, skills you need to develop. From your description, it sounds like the two of you were involved in rather different tasks. It’s easy to do pattern-based drawing like zentangles on automatic – but in my experience, the results are never as good. I know that when I’m working on pattern designs myself, as I do as part of my composition practice, there’s a big difference between the ones I’m wholly involved in and the ones that have less of my attention.

Hi Paul, first of all you have my respect, such amazing work you do. Just went through your gallery and was amazed. That cloth and that iron…I honestly believed is a photo after looking at it a couple times. Just wow!

I will bother you with a question now: what do you think is a good way in aproaching human anatomy drawing?

Struggling for the moment, I think I should start with the skeleton and catch the proportions and everything and after I controll it, jump to muscles.

I really wish to learn to draw the human body, dreamt about it for years and now finally I have time to do it and already planned 3 hours/day for it. Just…I have no idea what to practice on starting from scratch.

Thank you for your help with your website, I hope my English was good enough.

Hi Cata. I think you’re right, starting with the skeleton and proportions is a good approach. I would get hold of “figure Drawing For All Its Worth” by Andrew Loomis. He starts with skeletons and develops from there. If you search on Google you’ll be able to find a copy for download for free – it’s out of copyright now.

Hi,
I found your post very motivating and precise. You are very right about identifying the skills that I would like to hone before starting out on a regular practice. I am a true beginner in drawing, and I dont know where to begin! I suppose perhaps learning to draw accurately. Do you have recommendations on a book or other source of info. that would guide me through this?
Thanks!

I usually recommend “The practice and science of drawing” by Harold Speed. For building general drawing skills, it’s the best book I know.It is quite old, though, and the language and some of the opinions expressed are very much of their time. But just do the practical exercises he describes and you’ll develop your drawing skills.

After that, I’d recommend getting hold of a copy of the Bargue book, read the appendix on how to draw sight size and have a go at the first plate of eyes. Get back to me if you need any help with it.

Thanks for the book recommendation! I have placed a hold on it from my local library.
I would like to draw (almost) everyday and practice. Is Harold Speed’s book good to give a guide for this?
Does 15 minutes a day make any sense to draw? Is that too little? Am sure more time is always better, but i would rather start with small manageable time chunks than do nothing cos I can never get the ideal hour in.
Thanks again.

In my opinion, when you’re trying to get a new habit established, it’s best to start really, really small, until the habit becomes established. Then you can increase the time.

I have an exercise I call “Just Open Your Sketchpad” which is just that. You choose a point in your daily routine when you’re going to do your practice, and you just show up and open your sketchpad. Write “Practice completed” and the date. Then close your sketch pad. That’s all you do for the first week. Then start drawing on the second week.

The reason for doing that is that it removes resistance to getting started (because it’s so simple) and in the beginning, the important thing is to get the pattern established in your brain.

Hey Paul, I just started drawing and I’m really interested in human anatomy and realistic drawings. I technically want to be able to copy a real picture into art. What would you recommend I strenthen and what exactly should I work on practically?

Thanks a lot. I really enjoyed reading your tips, but I think I need something more specific since I’m only a beginner.

do you know any more books with this similar structure? I have such a difficult time coming up with my own exercises, I don’t know if i can help myself in that regard. I’d love to know if you know of any books that are similar, or how to find books that give a continued focus on specific topics like this and might give guidance better than just me trying alone?

I don’t know of any that are exactly like the kind of thing I outline here, but (depending on your current level) here are three very practicl books that I’d recommend you look seriously at before trying anything else:

The practice and science of drawing by Harold Speed
The Bargue book (Cours de Dessin) edited by Jeremy Ackerman and Graydon Parrish
Drawing on the right side of the brain by Betty Edwards

Working through those three will give you a very thorough grounding, and whilst they might not be enough alone to constitute an education in drawing, they’re all very practical and will take you a long way.

Wow ! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences.
I can draw & paint but wanted to become like the great artiste
I see around me. Now after reading your articles and seeing how you
have progressed with your own tries at art, it encourages me to do the same.

I really was amazed to know about brain plasticity and about your Son.
I hope he is doing great. I also grateful to you for sharing the mun-sell technique for mixing accurate colors.

You’re welcome, Satish. The really positive message from brain plasticity is that our potential is not limited. We can develop our brains at any point in our lives, which means we can continually expand what we can achieve. There is no ceiling. good luck with your practice!

I can’t believe my luck that I found your blog highlighting just the problem I’ve been facing. Proportion and spacing have been a big impediment not just to drawing but to my watercolor painting efforts as well. I never thought I could isolate and start practicing that in specific. I’ve also now got the book you’re practicing from and hope to get better at composition with the book and the daily practice. Thank you!

What would you recommend for someone who would like to become a concept artist for films?

The book you mentioned and the focused practice you talk about have aided you incredibly in traditional art but would it apply to fantasy and sci-fi type creations? The stuff I need to be making (and making well) is from imagination and not ‘real’ life.

Hi Eddie. It’s hard for me to answer your question definitively since I know very little about that world. But, I think that the basics are the same no matter what field you’re working in: sound drawing (mostly accuracy), values and a good understanding of colour and light. If you can get those three, you’ll already be streets ahead of most people. Then you’d need to add what specific skills you need for you field. Unfortunately I don’t know what those are for concept artists, but I would assume that drawing from imagination would be pretty hard.

One of the best things you could do, I think, would be to find the work of successful artists you particularly admire and copy it.

While surfing the net, I came across your article-like writing. I kept on reading it. Then, I reached the conclusion that this piece of writing absolutely deserved a sincere thank. Because, you describe the truest way to master drawing 100% clearly. Now, I have the assumption that there is no need to read anything else about this subject even though my goal is to be a decent comic book artist.

DECIDE ON A WAY to practice those skills in isolation from everything else .

. Say you wanted to be able to draw more accurately, then the skill you’d need to practice would be your ability to accurately judge shapes in three dimensions and translate them into two dimensions on the picture plane.

With building that skill as your goal, you could THINK UP SOME EXERCISES around it and get down to some regular, focused practice.”

It is just those very exercises that I need to be given.
I can’t seem the think any up.
This is the essential instruction and guidance I am looking for…
exercises that I am confidant will improve my drawing!

I tried to do the repeat pattern and I realized is not that easy since they aren’t the same size (I tried to do fast in about 2 minutes) and the horizontal pattern is going up, I will try to do this exercise daily and then I will change to another patterns. My idea is learning oil painting but I’m a true believer I need to know how to draw first and until I’m satisfied with my progress I will not start with oil painting. About the 10000 hours – that’s bull, I started drawing this February and in the last 3 months I saw a huge progress and I think in about 1 year I can jump on oil.

The first thing you should do is actually read an accurate account of the 10,000 hour rule. You, like most people writing about the 10,000 hour rule who have not read it, conclude that it is about the amount of time you need to practice. It is not. It is about how you have to practice. It is about Directed Practice.

Having criticized the ‘Rule’ you then almost re-invented the structure of Directed Practice. If you read an accurate account of the underlying research you will discover that you only need to add a few more steps to what you are doing. You could then change the first part of your blog to praise rather than denigrate Directed Practice.

You are correct that you have to choose one thing to work on at a time. You were headed in the right direction when you narrowed the scope of the practice. One of the requirement of DP is that you reduce your focus to a single, simple task which permits creating a practice which can be objectively analyzed (or, if you will, graded). You need to set the criteria which you must satisfy before moving on.

So, you were correct in telling the person who wanted to learn to draw a figure to start with a smaller goal. He first needs to decide what he wants to be able to accomplish: there will be different steps involved if he wants to emulate Barque than if he leans toward anime, different if he wants to re-introduce cubism, different if he prefers Norman Rockwell.

He might start will learning the ability to make specific marks on paper. One of you readers referred to drawing a line between two marked points. Think of what you might want to achieve within the context of a short line. Your practice will reflect what you are currently working on. Do you want your line to be perfectly straight and mechanical, of uniform width and value with starting and ending with a sharp, perpendicular edge. Good, you can easily set up test criteria to chart your progress.

You will set up separate drawing sessions for making longer lines, or looser lines, lines of specific value, lines of graded value, calligraphic lines, lines that look like they were dashed off, or made in anger or sorrow, sensual lines.

After that you could turn your hand to curved lines. You will eventually move on to lines that reflect what you see. And so on. If you are looking for world-class mastery (of drawing), expect to invest 10,000 hours.

OH, don’t forget the other prerequisites cited in the study like; a supportive social network, a mentor, a coach, being in the right place at the right time and finally the ability to persevere with a practice so intense you can do no more than 4 hours per day and which you will find difficult, demanding and definitely not enjoyable.
Do that for 6 and a half years.

All of which suggests reducing your goal from world class to something less, perhaps merely expert or competent.

Thanks john, there’s really good and interesting points in what you’ve written here.

But the first thing you should do is read this post more carefully. I agree that most people get the 10,000 hour rule wrong, just like Malcolm Galdwell did. Mostly because they only know of it from Gladwell’s “work”. I found about it well before he published Outliers in “The Road to Excellence” by Anders Ericsson – which is the source from which Gladwell appropriated (and misrepresented) the ideas in Outliers. Since you haven’t mentioned The Road to Excellence or Ericsson, I can only assume you haven’t read it, and are unfamiliar with Ericsson’s work in the original.

What you do have right is that it isn’t so much the number of hours, it’s what you do with them. Ericsson calls what you should do with them deliberate practice. Call it directed practice if you like, I suspect you mean the same thing. An easier to digest version can be found in Peak – Ericsson’s ideas written out by a professional author rather than a scientist (as Ericsson is), it makes them much easier to understand and also more compelling, I think. It’s a fantastic book, I’d recommend you add it to your reading list if you haven’t read it already.

It’s true that what I present here is a subset of what Ericsson recommends – I’ve simplified it down to a version that I think will fit better with people who are teaching themselves at home (most of the people who read here). But I’ve preserved the main points.

I’d recommend you read a little more carefully before you jump in and criticise. Both this post and Ericsson’s work. It would certainly help make what you hope to add to the conversation more digestible to others. Of course, that may not be much of a priority for you. I suspect it isn’t.

You should contact Ericsson, too. He’s been struggling with being able to define parameters for what would constitute deliberate practice in the visual arts. You seem to have it down though, perhaps you can advise him.

Finding this blog was like destiny for me! I’m really stuck on practicing my drawing because I don’t know wher to start or well i didn’t know where to start but after reading this…WOW! I feel so identified with everything you describe about feeling bad because not practicing at all, being “lazy”, just everything! I thing reading this helped me so much because know I have an idea about what I want to focus in.

Dear Paul, i can’t thank you enough for sharing this experiencie of yours.
I’m a commercial sculptor of superhero figures and i was trying to get better at composition, with little success, and much guilt as you mention.
It was a blessing that your article refers to effectiveness, focus, and having habits more than huge goals, as those were the main disadvantages i haven’t realised that were my major flaws, in my practice sessions.
It’s encouraging to receive your words and true experience about frustration and guidelines on how to get better efficiently.
Now 7 years after your article you are helping an artist from the other side of the world (i’m from Argentina)
So thanks you for your truly golden article, and thanks the internet to be one great way of self-teach in this era.
My feedback is to remark how important still are these blogs, and the value of your experience shared to everyone. 😀
Thanks again, big hugs!
Claudio

Thanks Claudio, that’s great to hear. Yes, it’s very tempting to set big (and often vague) goals and not make much progress against them – I still do it myself. In fact I’m pretty sure all of us do it to a greater or later extent. But if you can balance it with just basic good work habits, you will make progress. A goal without a plan of how to get there is just a dream, I think. Big hugs back, and good luck with your practice 🙂

Thank you Paul!
finding this article is destiny to me. so glad to find the article at the early stage of my drawing life. this article prove me that I’m doing the thing I love with the right method,

I learn drawing human myself, and yes I use the wrong way at the very beginning, frustrated too. but I never give up, find other ways and adjust it.

first drawing human head, then facial expression, and thought that’s enough.
but while I keep drawing, I find that’s not enough and what I was short of. From human structure to clothe, head to toe and perspective. It’s been almost a year, and I’m a lot better at drawing than where I used to be.

Using not exact same method as you did, but quite familiar,
since nobody ever told me whether mine is correct or not, but I see progressing and be more confident at drawing, then I found this article!

and thank you so much for the book Composition by Arthur Wesley Dow you recommend, I know composition is important, but I’ve been struggling dealing with composition for a while. and still weak. Now, I’m going to buy a hard cover myself, and hopefully It works!!! thank you again!!!!

You’re very welcome Addy! I do hope you get along with the Dow book. Personally, I think it’s the best book on the subject out there, because it doesn’t give you a set of “rules” to learn (which are broken repeatedly by just about every good painting, ever) it gives you a series of exercises to develop your sense of balance and spacing. I know of nothing else that does.

The woodland process shots were quite cool, and yes, the picture on the right really did become quite a bit better! I’m doing this sort of focused practice and getting back to good ‘ole proportions and accuracy. Darren’s “many starts” idea inspired me to do a daily Bargue block in (I’m doing the very basic ones e.g. feet currently). I sit there with my proportional dividers and guess / check, guess / check, a couple hundred times. It’s honestly quite tedious, but the benefit I get from it is so worthwhile I press on.

In meantime, I have a full Bargue on my easel that I do when I have a bit more time. I’m keen to see how that turns out in due time. I really wish I’d done Bargue flats right when I started learning to draw, but that’s the adventure of adult learning is you have to some times meander a bit. I did take 2 college drawing 101 type courses and those were interesting and gave me some nice exposure but were basically based off the drawing on the right side of the brain book. Not a bad thing at all (I got exposed to materials, notan study, negative space studies, blind contour, and other exercises, etc.) But, I really wish there was some focus on perhaps site size and exposure to Bargue and cast drawing. That’s the area I’m honed in on currently.

Thanks Rob. Yes, I found the strict sight size practice tedious at first too. It felt like something I had to force myself to do because I wanted the skills. But it really did work, and it gave me another skill that I wasn’t expecting – the ability to hold a higher level of focus for ;longer. The more I draw and paint, the more I become convinced that that’s a basic skill as important as any other, that similarly needs to be developed and stretched.

I’ve done a lot of practice with the Betty Edwards book in the past. My opinion of it now is that it’s a mish-mash of existing approaches to drawing pinned to the idea that creativity and spatial processing resides in the right brain. It’s deeply flawed because of that I think. Some of the approaches I think are very useful (negative shape, using the framer, etc) and some are counter-productive (blind contour drawing). And the idea that artistic skills reside in the right side of our brains has been to a large extent disproved since, the picture is actually much more nuanced, and we use both sides of brains to varying degrees in every activity.

And I know, too, what you mean about meandering. Oh, I’ve done my fair share of that! It might take longer to get to the destination but you do come across some nice views sometimes 🙂 Overall I think it might create a more rounded, less partisan artist so perhaps it’s no bad thing.

I do very much wish you luck Rob, stick with it. All this stuff is entirely learnable – it just takes time and and some commitment. Sounds like you have the latter in spades, I wish you as much of the former as you need 🙂

Here I am, nine years after this was posted, finding it very helpful. I’ve heard this advice about focused practice before and I do believe it’s the key to getting better at any skill but what I really appreciate is the advice on staying positive. That’s the hardest obstacle I’ve had in all the time I’ve spent teaching myself to draw. Staying positive and consistent is harder than drawing hands!

Wonderful Erin, I’m really glad to hear this post is still helping! Yes, it’s easy to get discouraged. Focusing on hte process rather than the outcome can help. You know, get a practice routine together and do it no matter what. Even when you really don’t feel like it. After a while you turn round and are surprised by the amount of progress you’ve made.

[…] the past month or so I have been using two online resources to focus my motivation into effective practice. These are the Watts Atelier online and Proko. Both are very similar, mainly because Proko is run […]

[…] I read a blog post on this great “Learning to see” website. The post talks about not just practice but focused practice and how it is best to not just practice, but practice correctly. Here is the post. […]

Hi, I’m Paul

I'm a (mostly) self-taught artist. I paint realism in oils, mostly still life. I share my work, my evolving process and what knowledge I've gained on my own learning journey here, in the hope that it might help you on yours.Read More…